We have been running the skimmer for 2 days. In addition to the brown stuff, today there is white stuff on the rocks. Looks like it snowed in there. Is this normal too? The Protein Skimmer is starting to collect some foam. It is also producing micro bubbles. Will this stop eventually and is the white stuff OK too?

All my water parameters are the same (as stated above) except for the PH is up to about 8.1. Is this normal for it to stall at these numbers for a few days?

Our LR doesn't really have any good colors. Just some different shades of green. We just have the stock lights that came with the tank (two 24inch 20watt Floresant bulbs). Is that why we don't have good colors.

You don't really need to test nitrates yet. Having nitrites will give you a false reading of nitrates from what I have read. Once your ammonia and nitrites are 0 add some snails. This helped my tank clear up quickly.